A severe teacher shortage has gripped the country’s government secondary schools, with more than 18 percent of assistant teacher positions currently vacant, officials said.
Of the 15,293 sanctioned assistant teacher posts across the country’s 702 government secondary schools, 2,842 — or roughly 18.58 percent — are currently unfilled.
The crisis extends to top administrative positions. A total of 383 government secondary schools have no permanent head teacher, while 249 assistant head teacher posts also remain vacant. Schools are being run by officials in acting capacities, leading to administrative stagnation.
Educationists said that unless the vacancies are filled promptly, maintaining the quality of secondary education will become increasingly difficult.
The BNP government pledged in its election manifesto to prioritize education, promising to modernize the system and gradually raise education spending to 5 percent of GDP. In the current 2026-27 fiscal year budget, Finance Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury raised the education allocation to 2 percent of GDP, totaling 1,36,606 crore taka — an increase of 49,400 crore taka over the previous year.
Education sector officials said significant infrastructure development has taken place, but the focus must now shift to quality improvement, which requires an adequate supply of qualified teachers.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report